


don't panic

by andromedagalaxy



Series: Philkas College Verse [24]
Category: Eyewitness (US TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-11-13 14:13:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11186799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andromedagalaxy/pseuds/andromedagalaxy
Summary: “Okay, don’t panic,” Lukas says.Philip immediately panics. “Why?” he says. “What’s wrong?”“I want you to say that you’re not gonna panic,” Lukas says, and it kind of sounds like he’s holding his nose when he talks.“Too late for that,” Philip says, laughing nervously, and he realizes that he’s not sitting anymore. He’s already starting to pace and he doesn’t even know what’s going on yet.





	don't panic

Philip leans back on the couch, his phone pressed to his ear. He hears Helen stirring in a bowl on the other end of the line and he snorts, shaking his head. “I can’t believe Gabe is letting you make cookies.”

“Letting, he says,” Helen groans, clicking her tongue. “Gabe doesn’t _let_ me do anything.”

“Right, right,” Philip says, grinning. “My mistake.” He watches the snow fall outside the window, and he tries to remember whether Lukas was dressed properly when he went out.

“I wanted peanut butter cookies,” Helen says, drawing out the words. “And I wanted to try and do it myself.”

“I’m sure they’ll be….amazing,” Philip says. 

“Is that sarcasm, Philip?”

“Oh no,” Philip says, shaking his head. “Of course not.”

Helen laughs a little bit. “So when are you guys getting your tree? Is it gonna be all decorated by the time we get there?”

“Yeah, of course,” Philip says. “We’re gonna get it this afternoon. Lukas is out right now getting a stand and some ornaments, and then when he gets back we have to go rent a car because we realized after way too much back and forth that we can’t bring a tree on the subway.”

Helen laughs a lot louder this time. “Yeah, I don’t think that’d be a good idea.”

“Is Bo gonna ride up with you guys when you come?” Philip asks.

“I think so,” Helen says. “We still gotta talk details with him, but we’re all really excited.”

Philip smiles softly to himself, and he’s only just starting to think about how nice Christmas is gonna be with all of them here when he hears another call coming through. He pulls his phone away from his face and sees that it’s Lukas’s number. “Hey, Helen?” he says, bringing his phone to his ear again. “Lukas is calling me, I’ll catch you later?”

“Send me pictures of the tree!” Helen says.

“Will do!” Philip says. He quickly switches calls. “Lukas?” he says. 

“Okay, don’t panic,” Lukas says. 

Philip immediately panics. “Why?” he says. “What’s wrong?”

“I want you to say that you’re not gonna panic,” Lukas says, and it kind of sounds like he’s holding his nose when he talks. 

“Too late for that,” Philip says, laughing nervously, and he realizes that he’s not sitting anymore. He’s already starting to pace and he doesn’t even know what’s going on yet. 

Lukas sighs. “I, uh—was riding back but the roads were slick because of the—goddamn snow—and I—spun out on Atlantic.”

Philip feels a wave of nausea go through him and he reaches out, bracing his hand on the wall.

“I am _fine_ , though,” Lukas says, but Philip can barely hear him over the high pitched noise that’s going off in his ears. “I’m fine, my bike is—fine—I mean, it’s gotta get some shit buffed out of it, but it’ll be fine.”

Philip nods.

“Philip?” Lukas asks. “You there?”

“You’re okay?” Philip asks, his voice going high.

“Baby, it looks—worse than it is,” he says.

Philip’s heart hammers. “What’s that mean?”

“Listen, uh—I’m coming home now. The worst thing that came out of this was that all the fucking ornaments I bought broke. The lights survived and the stand is a little scuffed up, but it made it. So—when we rent the car we can keep it for another day or so and then go out and get everything we’ve ever wanted to get with a car. Including more ornaments.”

Philip’s mind is conjuring up all kinds of terrible images. “What’s it mean when you say it looks worse than it is?”

There’s a silence on Lukas’s end. “I’m not going to the hospital, let’s say that.”

Philip digs his fingers into his eyes, feeling his throat go tight. “Meaning—you should be going and you’re deciding not to?”

“No, the lady that helped me said it should be fine.”

Philip puts his hand on his hip. “Was the lady a doctor, Lukas?”

“No, she was a florist, which is why I’m driving back with half a dozen roses stuffed into my jacket. So lemme get off the phone so I can come back to you and we can get the freak-out out of the way.”

~

Philip sits around staring at the TV for the next twenty minutes, completely incapable of focusing on _Home Alone_. He checks his watch at least a hundred times. When he hears Lukas’s key in the lock he gets up from the couch immediately, rushing for the door. Lukas pushes his way inside, two plastic bags hanging off his arm and the flowers up in front of his face. 

Philip can’t even be happy about the gesture. “Lemme see you,” he says, crossing his arms over his chest. He notices a cut on Lukas’s knuckles and he presses his lips together, anxious. 

“No screaming, please,” Lukas says, which doesn’t soothe Philip at all.

He slowly lowers the flowers and Philip feels like he’s been punched in the throat. There’s a big, red cluster of scratches on Lukas’s cheek, another across the bridge of his nose, a long one skating through his eyebrow. A blood vessel is blown in his eye and there’s a cut on his lip, which still looks like it’s bleeding.

“Oh my god,” Philip says, covering his mouth. The tears spark up behind his eyes before he can even really think about it.

“Hey, now,” Lukas says, frowning.

Philip closes his eyes, shaking his head. It’s reminiscent of the nightmares from the beginning, all the horror stories his mind concocted about Ryan. The things he didn’t get to do to Lukas. The things he could have done. He can hear Lukas putting the bags down, the flowers on the counter, and then Philip is being pressed into Lukas’s arms. 

“I knew you’d be upset.”

“Uh, yeah,” Philip says into Lukas’s chest, his words muffled. “It looks really bad, Lukas.”

“Like I said, it’s not as bad as it looks.” He rubs Philip’s back up and down and presses a kiss to the top of his head. 

Philip swallows a sob and Lukas holds him tighter. 

“It’s okay, I feel _fine_ , I swear,” Lukas whispers.

Philip clings to him for a couple moments, just happy that he’s safe. He pulls back and wipes at his eyes. He takes another look at Lukas’s face and he nearly starts crying again, but he doesn’t allow it. “Come on to the bathroom,” Philip says, reaching down and taking his hand. 

“We gotta go get the car,” Lukas protests, but he follows him all the same. 

“If you think we’re not putting something on that shit, you’re crazy,” Philip says. He ushers Lukas into their bedroom and then through the bathroom door. He peels off his jacket and lets it drop to the ground, and then manhandles Lukas until he’s got him sitting on the closed toilet seat. 

“We gonna play doctor?” Lukas asks, wagging his eyebrows.

Philip doesn’t dignify that comment with a laugh. “Your whole body is gonna hurt tomorrow,” he says. He rummages through their mirror cabinet and finds the tube of Neosporin, and the box of Band-Aids. 

“It really wasn’t that bad,” Lukas insists. “I just, like, rolled a couple times, off onto the sidewalk. I was completely clear of cars. I guess I scraped my face on the road but like—I didn’t really feel it. I was confused when the lady acted all horrified when she looked at me.”

Philip washes his hands and dries them off. He takes the tube and squirts some of the ointment onto his finger.

“It doesn’t hurt, I mean…it doesn’t.”

Philip reaches out, dapping at the scrape on his cheek. 

Lukas flinches, looking at him accusingly. “Hey, that hurt!”

Philip snorts, but doesn’t let Lukas’s wild eyes stop him. He keeps up with his work, trying to focus, distancing himself from his feelings so he doesn’t freak out again. He cleans some of the dirt away and uses more ointment, presses a piece of toilet paper to Lukas’s lip until the blood stops coming altogether. The cut across his eyebrow gives Philip some trouble, and he tries his hardest to cover it completely.

“You look really cute right now,” Lukas says a few moments later, gazing up at him.

Philip shakes his head, trying not to smile. 

“Do I look cute?” Lukas asks.

“You look like a bunch of snow and gravel assaulted your face,” Philip says. 

“Are you mad at me?” Lukas asks, twisting his hands in his lap.

Philip narrows his eyes, looking down at him. “Of course I’m not mad at you, I was just—I’m just—”

“I know,” Lukas says, so softly.

Philip sighs, thinks he might have tended the wounds as best as he can. They only have small bandages so Philip puts a bunch of them on each scrape, trying not to disturb the cuts. He brushes Lukas’s hair away from his face and adores the way he’s looking up at him so sweetly, and Philip can’t help but lean in, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “You look really cute and stupid,” he says, straightening up. 

“So, par for the course, then,” Lukas says. He leans forward, wrapping his arms around Philip’s waist and pressing his cheek to Philip’s chest. 

Philip touches the back of his head, running fingers through his hair.

“I’m sorry I freaked you out,” Lukas whispers. “I think I’m gonna chill on riding my bike until the snow calms down.”

“Probably a good idea,” Philip says. 

“I still want to get our Christmas tree today, though,” Lukas says, resting his chin on Philip’s chest and staring up at him. “I’m fine enough to go. I don’t care if I look stupid.”

“Fine,” Philip says. “But we’re even now. You’re not allowed to bring up the passing out thing ever again.”

“How about…if I bring it up, you can bring this up?”

“Okay,” Philip says, sighing. “That’s fair.”

Lukas stands up, and Philip can already see that tomorrow, and probably the rest of the week, is gonna be shitty for him. But he isn’t gonna say anything, and he doesn’t protest when Lukas takes his face in his hands and kisses him softly.

“You’ve got nine lives, sugar,” Philip whispers against his lips. 

“More like a hundred,” Lukas says. “And I’m gonna live ‘em all with you.”

Philip smiles at him, shaking his head. 

“So let’s start thinking about the awesome lie we’re gonna tell people,” Lukas says, running his hands up and down Philip’s sides. 

“You definitely don’t look like you got in a fight,” Philip says, narrowing his eyes. “So I doubt you’ll be able to pull off any story like that.”

“Aw, come on,” Lukas says. “Maybe I—maybe I pushed you out of the way of an oncoming car?” 

Philip rolls his eyes. “So I’m the idiot and you’re the hero? No, no, you’re the idiot.”

Lukas pouts at him, and Philip leans in to kiss him again.

“Come on,” Philip says. “Let’s _walk_ very slowly, to the subway, and maybe, if you’re good, we’ll come up with a story that you can feed to the people at the tree lot that we’ll never see again.”

Lukas’s smile lights up his face. “Alright, baby,” he says. “Let’s go.”


End file.
